I pushed him away, swallowing down the nausea that rose in my throat. My voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it.
“I’m back now. Very much alive. Yet, you're still going to marry her. Isn't that correct? You DO still plan on making her your wife.”
Milford gave a helpless sigh, as if I were being unreasonable. “Of course not. You’re my wife. You always have been. The wedding’s just for show—I’m not signing any papers.”
“I need to give Lisa and Eddy some kind of status, so people won’t gossip. That’s all this is—just a performance. You know that. We’re the real thing. Legally, emotionally—everything. You’ve always been so understanding, Lori. You won’t make a big deal out of this... right?”
So that was it. He still expected me to live in the shadows—officially dead, unofficially his. Hidden. Forgotten. Then, with the same casual entitlement, Milford started to undo the buttons of my blouse.
“Lisa’s already given me a son,” he murmured. “We should catch up, don’t you think? If we have a boy and with Enid… the three of them together would make a perfect little family. Harmony. Balance.”
He wanted to complete his pretty little family picture—with me as the secret corner of the frame.